Blue Jay-Journey
by Zaraizabell
Summary: She left her family because she didn't know how else to escape the pain. She's still a hero, but she doesn't really know where she's going. Nightwing searches. Harrier plots. Ra's al Ghoul protects her as some penance for his crimes. This is the tale of Blue Jay's Journey. OC AU K plus because I'm paranoid. I don't own DC characters.
1. Blau Held

Flowing through the shadows

Silent as a wraith

seeing the world of light

while hiding in the dark

-KT

Blue Jay's POV

I didn't know how to deal with the feelings raging through me. Dick was distant. He didn't seem how to know how to deal with any of it himself. Barb was unavailable. She was trying to keep Bruce from killing himself or others. I didn't know how to deal with the pain, so I left.

I didn't actually put that much thought into it at the time. I was seven. I was already smart enough for my age. I didn't have time to psychoanalyze myself as I left Blüdhaven. I was stupid, as I often was at that age. I left the one good thing I had left in my life.

You'd be surprised how far a seven year old that can only be seen when she wants to can get before she runs into major trouble in the world. I started much like Bruce had, though I didn't learn about him until much later. I got on one of the boats heading to any foreign country. I was focused on getting away with what few supplies I had. I hadn't wanted to steal anything from Dick, but I knew I would need at least a week's worth of water and three days worth of food. I brought my costume and utility belt as well, just in case I needed them.

I managed to get all the way to Germany before I was met with any major trouble. It was winter there. I was cold, but I had gotten a warm coat from a very nice woman getting rid of old clothes a few days previous. I had my Kevlar on under it because it was surprisingly warm. It was heavy as well, but I figured I needed to build muscle.

I was in Berlin. Berlin is large, but not as corrupt as Gotham or Blüdhaven. I heard the explosion, but I figured it was a Justice League problem. That was the excuse I had used whenever I saw something major happening. I would stop the minor stuff, but anything that loud had to be major.

I was right. There was an attack on the American Consulate. I didn't know why, but what I saw let me know I had to do something. All of the kids were being taken hostage. If I happened to be among them I might be able to do something. I did what I was best at. I slid through the shadows into the group of children. There were enough of them there that I wasn't noticed. The coat was nice enough that I seemed to fit in.

One of the men pointing a gun at the children yelled, "Bring out the Ambassador or the kids get it." I moved forward carefully, blocking the path of as many bullets as I could.

I had been under the impression this sort of thing didn't happen much in Germany. I would have expected it in Iraq or Afghanistan, but Germany just didn't seem like the sort of place for this sort of thing.

I was already wearing sunglasses, but I grabbed out a mask, in case I needed to do something truly heroic.

A man that looked to be about Bruce's age came out. He asked, proving himself to be the ambassador, "What do you want?"

The man with the gun that had spoke before said, "I want you to watch your child die the way I did. It's because of you my son is dead."

The ambassador said, "Please, don't hurt my children. I don't know what you mean, but please don't hurt my children."

The man with the gun said, "My son was in project Platinum. A project you endorsed while you were in the military. It's your fault he's dead." He was shaking. He was going to shoot somebody. I had to stop that from happening. I pulled the hood of my coat up, letting the motion cover putting on a mask to replace my sunglasses. I hid those away in my utility belt and waited for the right moment.

The ambassador said, "Come inside and we can discuss this like civil people."

"No," the man with the gun said, "I'll start shooting children until I find which one is yours." He turned and cocked the gun while he went. He didn't have to look at the gun to do it. He was familiar with the weapon. The men with him weren't letting any children escape.

I threw my coat into his face, thankful he had forgotten to take the safety off. I was cold, but I ignored it as I dove forward to get the gun from his hand. I knocked him out with it and moved on to the next man. I leg swept him, leaving five left.

I used bird-a-rangs on two of the guys, which I retrieved before going after the three remaining. I pulled out a pair of metal sticks that Nightwing had been teaching me how to use before I left. I used them to take down the last three guys as quickly as possible. They were all down and none of the children were hurt.

One of the older boys stopped me before I could disappear and said, "Thank you. You saved my life. What is your name?"

"Blue Jay," I responded automatically before disappearing into the shadows. That was the first time one of the things I did actually made the news, but they didn't get my name right. They just called me 'Blau Held' Blue Hero, and left it at that.

Nightwing's POV

Three months. That was how long Blue Jay was missing before I got a single lead on her. She hadn't left much of a note. She just said good bye and thank you.

Wonder Woman had been in Germany for diplomatic reasons, but she had been in Frankfurter. She was going to get there only after several of the children got shot. Just before the lead gunman fired, a child within the group had thrown her coat in his face and attacked. She had won of course. She was trained to get hostages out of tougher situations than that with her feet tied together, despite the fact her training wasn't complete.

I could only hope that she showed up again. I wanted to bring her home. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be alright. I didn't want her to live off of the kindness of strangers. I wanted her to be safe. I wanted to be there for her, especially since I couldn't be there for my little brother. She was out there somewhere. She had to leave some sort of trail in her wake. I just had to find it and follow it.

Even Blue Jay couldn't disappear forever. She had proved that in Germany. She was still a hero. Heroes saved people wherever they went. She would too. Crimes would be solved wherever she went. That would leave a trail.

Harrier's POV

At least when she was with the Bats I knew she was still training. Now she had left this country all together. She was saving people still. I guess nature had beaten nurture for once. I would just have to beat both out of her again. She wouldn't remember her hero life at all if I could get my hands on her. All I had to do was the thing I was best at. No prison could hold me for long. Not even Blackgate.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

A waste of two young lives, but I had brought back one. I could get the other to do better. I could at least make sure she survived. She was good at hiding, but my people were better. They could follow her trail. They would insure no one else got to her. It would be my penance for being unable to control the monster I had unleashed. The girl would live.

**I'm back. I wasn't even gone for that long, but here I am again. A few notes:**

**I'm pretty sure all the characters would act this way except for maybe Ra's, but then he might so there you go.**

**Thank you all of those who so graciously followed/reviewed/favorited(which doesn't have a good past tense, but I tried) Blue Jay. I might not have gotten this far without it.**

**I thank my good friend KT for letting me use some of her poetry for this and probably the following chapters. I'm pretty sure it fits well with the story, though maybe not at this point.**

**On a side note, I'm not making any promises this time for when I'll update because I'm not sure when more inspiration will come..**

**Reviews are enjoyed, and I do respond to most of them. Flames are accepted, and I try to fix or explain why I do something when I get flamed.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	2. Tetris

She is not of the shadow

She is not of the light

The shadows seem free

But she longs for true freedom

-KT

Blue Jay's POV

I kept heading east after Germany. I don't really know why. It just felt like the way I was supposed to go. I crossed the border into Russia three weeks after I left Berlin. I was in Moscow a week after that. I never really understood why everything seemed to happen in the capitals of countries. The Justice League was already there in force when I arrived.

Toy Man was there along with an army of robotic nutcrackers. Superman was smashing them as fast as he could. Flash was trying to trip them. I was pretty sure I saw the glow of a Green Lantern's construct nearby. I saw the civilians rushing to get out of the way of the monstrance robots.

It was a Justice League problem. They were taking care of it. I wasn't necessary. That was before one of the robots brought out Kryptonite, Flash got kicked across the huge city, and Green Lantern got hit by a direct shot from one of the nutcracker's guns. This was the Justice League. They were supposed to be able to stop this sort of thing.

I took off my coat, revealing my dark navy Kevlar, and put a mask on to replace my sunglasses. I ran over to one of the robots and climbed up it's leg, finding an access hatch at the knee. I got inside and followed the circuits to the main computer. I hadn't learned much about hacking, but how good of a programmer could a guy that acted more like a child then I did be? The answer was of course surprisingly good. I couldn't get past his fire walls to save the city.

It wanted a password. It was six spaces long, but with twenty six letters, ten numbers, and about thirty symbols on any given key board I had three hundred ninety-six possible combinations. Maybe Flash could have gone through them all before the nutcrackers destroyed something important, but I couldn't.

Then I thought about it. Toy Man was all about games. We were in Russia, so it had to be a Russian game. I just had to find a six letter Russian game, then translate it to English and type that into the password bar. I knew Russian. I spoke Russian. That didn't mean I knew what games were invented in Russia.

I wished it was a cross word puzzle. I could figure that out, but this seemed impossible.

Then I remembered an add I had seen when I went into Moscow for Тетрис known in America as Tetris. It claimed to be the original Tetris app. I didn't really care about that. What mattered was that both were six letters. I tried the Russian spelling first. It started a count down. I panicked, wondering if I had been wrong. I had to try the English version though. I didn't have time to try to figure out anything else.

I typed the letters in as quickly as I could. The count down stopped. I couldn't believe my luck when I found a button to make the robot with the Kryptonite put it back inside itself. I had it do it, then kept searching for a shut down button for all the robots. They were on one network, so there had to be one. Through some chance, I managed to find it. I heard the upset child like wails from my station at the nutcracker's computer. I climbed out the way I got in and moved to get back into the shadows, away from the attention of the already gathering police officers when a green wall appeared in front of me.

"Who are you?" Superman asked, floating several feet in the air behind me.

I replied, "Blue Jay." Then I ran at the building next to the green wall, grabbing one of the balconies that over hung the street, and swinging passed the green wall. A snow bank broke my fall, but by the time the white powder settled I was already blocks away in the shadows.

I made international news that time. I didn't like that. I needed to stay invisible. Still the reports of Синий героя, Blue Hero were heart warming. Some of the others I had saved in weeks previous came forward and told their stories as well. I was becoming a legend when I had only wanted to stay in the shadows.

I kept going east.

Nightwing's POV

I was proud of her, even if I still did want to bring her back home. She had succeeded where three of the most powerful members of the Justice League had nearly failed. Everyone was wondering who the mysterious Blue Hero was and how she could do what she did at such a young age. The effects could be seen even in Blüdhaven. Children wore small pieces of blue clothing to show they weren't afraid. That it was their city too and they were willing to fight for it.

Blue Jay was making a difference from across the world. She would probably continue to do so, even if she was trying to hide.

It was much easier to track her movements, now that there were people telling the stories about how she rescued them. I had to sift through the lies to find those that were true, but I noticed a general trend in her movements easily. I could only wonder what lay in the east that was so important to her.

Harrier's POV

The little idiot was heading back the way we had came so many years ago. She was going back to the lab. She probably didn't even realize it. All my work would be completely undone if she got there. Neither the Bat nor I could get her back if she ended up there. I would rather she ended up with the Bat then back at that place.

It was the only reason I had ever done drugs or alcohol. I wanted to forget that place like I had let Z. None of the tortures I gave her could compare to the things that place did to me.

I made my decision then. It was easy to get out of the supposedly high security prison. I headed straight for Blüdhaven.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

The girl was going to get herself killed if I didn't intervene. It would be easy. I would simply have one of the assassins following her take her. They would be paid well to capture the young bat. She would learn the ways of the court as Harrier had wanted, if only to save her life.

She was already a shadow. Even I would have to admit she had natural abilities with hiding. She was a good candidate. I still knew that for her nature would always win out over nurture. As much as she would be pummeled and beat into the ground, she would always have the hope that was bread into her by that crazy woman.

_'s POV

She was coming home. I had always known she would one day return. She was perfect that way. She had always been perfect. She was better than all the others. Even the doctors that made them admitted that. She was perfect. The best of all. Now she was coming back home and no one would be able to stop her when she got close.

Tim's POV

I took a deep breath, sill not sure I was doing the right thing. It was going to be scary no matter what I did. I might as well just do it. Someone had to tell him what he was doing would get someone killed before it was to late. Maybe, hearing it from someone that had figured out who he was would jar him enough to get him to listen. I had to confront the Batman.

**The blank is going to be filled in by another OC villain. Thought I'd warn you before you all tried to guess who it was going to be. I thought I'd throw Tim's POV in to show what was happening in Gotham. Tim may have met Blue Jay at one point or another, but who knows. They might not have ever met. She is a couple years younger than him after all. I even filled that plot hole I realized I had created in my first story when I mentioned ****_she_**** came in swaying or something. I'll actually have a few members of the Team in the next chapter probably...hopefully...so enjoy.**

**I thank those of you that reviewed because you are awesome, so have some imaginary Alfred cookies.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	3. Z was somewhere much worse

Some within the shadows

wish to pull her deeper

away from the light

but she will never listen

-KT

Blue Jay's POV

I managed to get a ticket on the trans-Mongolian railway with what little money that had been rather forcefully thrust upon me when I saved a young girl from being run over by a car on the streets of Moscow. I hadn't even been in costume, but the man insisted on repaying me for my favor.

I was surprised to see who else was on that train. None of them knew me, but I recognized them. Ms. Martian, Zatanna, and Superboy were not only on the train with me, but in the same sleeping car. They weren't entirely happy to have a civilian in their sleeping car, but there wasn't much they could do about it. I wasn't happy about having to worry about hiding the Kevlar, that I was still using to attempt to preserve some heat, I wore from a bunch of heroes that would most certainly drag me in for questioning the minute they saw it.

I was home sick too and the heroes weren't helping anything. I wondered what was going on in Blüdhaven. I wondered what was going on in Gotham. I wanted to go home, but I was sure I wasn't wanted there anymore.

Nightwing's POV

I was out on patrol one night when I saw _her_ on a roof top. She was supposed to be in Blackgate Prison's high security wing. Instead, she was in Blüdhaven, obviously waiting for something or someone.

Harrier's POV

I said, "You let her escape Bat." I spat the last world like an insult.

"She didn't have to escape. She just left," Nightwing replied sadly, as he advanced. He was trying to get the drop on me so he could take me back to prison.

I said, "I'll go back to prison once I've told you something important Bat. Not before. I know where Z is going and you can't let her get there or neither of us will have a chance at getting her back."

"Where ever it is it has to be better than what you did to her," Nightwing said.

I pinned him then and said, "Look Bat, I don't like you. You don't like me. I hate Z, but even I'm not so cruel as to send her back to that place. Sure, I let villains run tests on her, but she got to go to school. She had friends. She was in gymnastics. I didn't control and monitor her every breath. She was free to live her life during all but three months of the year."

"What are you talking about?" the Bat demanded, as if he was the one that had me pinned.

I said, "Z was somewhere much worse before for years of her life. Longer than you think she's been alive. I was there with her, and barely managed to get her and myself out of there."

"Her name isn't Z," he growled. He was fixating on the wrong point of my exclamation.

I countered, "The name she thinks is hers is a shortened version of what it was at that place. You can't let her get to Hong Kong. There will be no stopping her if she makes it that far."

"What happened to her?" he demanded. It was then I realized he loved her. He loved Z like a daughter. He wanted to protect her. He wanted her back. He didn't care she had been raised by an assassin to one day be an assassin of the highest caliber. Nature would always win over nurture.

That was when the other Bats descended. He must have called them in when he saw me.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

She was on the trans-Mongolian railway with several of my assassins had managed to give her money after saving a child in the street. They would capture her when she arrived in Beijing. She would be a shadow. I would not condemn her to the life that awaited her if she made it to Hong Kong.

**Two chapters in one day and I'm still a horrible person. I leave you hanging all over the place. Why is the Team there? Will they find out who the young girl in their sleeping car is? What awaits Blue Jay in Hong Kong? Why does Harrier hate and fear it? Will Ra's al Ghul capture her? Did the Bats already make up? How long has it been since the last chapter anyway? (For that last one I'm thinking a month because of the role I want Tim to play in the interrogation, but whatever)**

**I'm actually giving Blue Jay a multiple chapter problem this time! I hope you guys like how the Harrier character is developing, but it's making it harder for me personally to hate her as a villain, sigh. Poor DaddyWing. He's got problems.**

**On a side note, I did some minor research on the trans-Mongolian rail road, but if I got anything wrong so far or if I get anything wrong about it in the future I'm very sorry.**

**Thanks for the awesome reviews. Please, donate more of your thoughts.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	4. H

No light touches

Her no matter how she tries

To reach into it's blissful rays

And out of the shadow's painful folds

-KT

**A reviewer asked how old Blue Jay is. Her body has got to be at least eight by now with all these time jumps I've been doing. Her exact age...well...you'll just have to keep reading to find out how old she is.**

Blue Jay's POV

I tried to focus on anything else besides the three heroes in the small room with me. I played a lot of solitaire, but winning for the twentieth time in a row, I got bored. I started wandering the cars, attempting to practice my detective skills on people. Some of them were easier to figure out then others.

The man following me was an assassin. The almost hidden knife he kept touching at his waist every time someone got near him or me made that obvious. I only half wondered why he was following me. I was positive he was a member of the League of Shadows.

The Russian boy that kept looking up every time someone talked was going to visit his grandparents that lived on the border of Russia and China. I would bet they spoke both languages.

The woman that kept looking around like she owned the place was the last I tried to figure out, but my detective skills failed to tell me who she was.

I gave up on my exploits, not really wanting the assassin that was following to kill anyone. I returned to my sleeping car, but apparently I walked in at the wrong moment, as Ms. Martian's skin was green, Zatanna was halfway through a spell, though Superboy was acting normal.

"I can explain," Ms. Martian said to me, worried I was about to run screaming.

I was sort of staring at her like I was considering doing that. I wouldn't though. I had met villains whose skin was of a much creepier pallor, and I hadn't screamed and run away from them. I may have been gagged and chained up at the time, but I still didn't do it. I was really wondering how I managed to sneak up on a mind reader, a magician, and someone with super hearing.

Nightwing's POV

Harrier was secured in a holding cell in the batcave. I was glad my family had actually come to my aid, though I was slightly surprised to see that Batman had brought the newest Robin along, when he only had a couple weeks of experience.

Harrier said, "Listen Bat, I don't like being chained up, so let's get this over with. Z's on her way to Hong Kong. I bet she already made it to the Trans-Mongolian railway. If you want to stop her from getting to Hong Kong you'll have to take me with you."

"I thought you didn't want to go," I said, trying to stay calm.

Harrier countered, "I don't. In point of fact, I'll only go as far as Beijing. You'll still need help tracking her down there."

I was fairly certain there were members of the Team on the Trans-Mongolian train, but I hadn't been to Mount Justice much lately. I'd have to check in with Aqualad.

Tim came in then, in all his Robin gear.

Harrier's POV

The other Bat came in. The new one. He was older than Z looked, though not by as much as the last one. He could only be ten or twelve at most. I knew that these children could be used to aggravate them, especially if I implied that they weren't cared for. The Batman seemed to always use children more than any other hero. I knew though that those children were better protected than those of any other hero. Especially given my first mission.

Flashback

Ra's al Ghul

The girl wished to prove herself as quickly as she could. She wanted to prove she was the best. Her creator assured me her want for power would subside once she had risen through the ranks.

"H," I commanded, "Your first mission is to obtain blood from the designated donor for your creator's next project."

H bowed and said, "I will not return until I have done this thing."

I knew she spoke the truth. She was to proud to fail any mission.

Present

Tim's POV

Harrier was creepy. I had read the file Batman gave me on her, but it seemed they didn't know much about her. She was an assassin that had used her daughter as a test subject. I was fairly certain that daughter had become the run away Blue Jay, but I didn't ask Nightwing. It seemed like he had enough to deal with without me reminding him of it.

"You've already replaced the one you lost," Harrier remarked, "it seems you consider all of your children expendable. I wonder how Z will feel when she finds out."

Nightwing was already angry at this woman. He advanced, like he was going to do something to her.

**And I leave you hanging again. I'm not going to ask the questions you're no doubt already asking this time. I sort of have to do my homework, but I'll return with chapter five as soon as I can.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	5. Flashback

Sometimes in a flash

She can see what it could be

To live in the light

To have that ecstasy

-KT

Flashback

Zara's POV

I was cold. It was really cold outside. I wasn't sure we were going to make it. I had done the calculations. We didn't have enough food for both of us. We did have something, but H didn't want to use it. She didn't think either of us could manage it. I waited until she had gone to collect fire wood to pick up the gun like weapon. I would use it on myself to save her life. She was the one that had always wanted to get out. She would finally be free. She could finally earn enough to pay what she thought of as her debts.

Flashback (Further than the previous one)

Nightwing's POV

We had finally defeated the Joker's latest scheme. Batman and I were both bruised and bleeding. We were heading back to the batmobile when I saw something dart out of an ally and into the building we had just left. The GCPD were in there though. I knew they would catch the figure if they were up to anything bad, so I didn't say anything to Batman.

Flashback (Only shortly after the first one)

Harrier's POV

That supposed genius child had used the ray on herself. I found the note she had left, written in that calligraphy she called her fast writing. I had seen what her hand writing looked like when she took her time, and knew that a computer didn't have a font as beautiful and yet legible.

She was absolving me of anything I thought of as a debt I owed her. She just wanted me to get her to the United States. That was her only desire. Beyond that, she told me I could leave her in a ditch. I hated her for making me accept her charity or let her die. I hated her more than anything. I would always hate her for it.

Flashback (Sometime during the first and third but after the second)

_'s POV

She wasn't supposed to leave yet. I hardly cared that H had gone with her, but Z was the perfect one. I needed her back. I knew she would come eventually. She always came back. I would have to watch and wait. She would reappear. H wasn't good enough at hiding to keep them both from reappearing. Z may have been, but the sensors in her told me she was younger again. She had fogotten how to be good at what she did.

Flashback (Only after the second one. Before all the others)

Ra's al Ghul's POV

I had been promised a perfect assassin by the end of her research. I saw only a girl with to much pride and another that cherished all life, refusing to end that of any creature before nature took its course. She could see only the light, yet she hid so well in the shadows. If not for her love of life she would have been the best assassin ever trained by the League. As it was, she was merely her creator's perfect test subject.

**What can I say? I got caught up in the Flashback from the last chapter and decided to write a chapter filled with Flashbacks. You'll get the present next time around. Though I'm sure some of you have at least guessed what will happen next. I did manage to finish that homework surprisingly quickly. Anyway, I probably won't make a habit of posting twice a day. Enjoy it for now.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	6. Sorceress

She watches those

That live in the light

wondering how

their lives must be

-KT

Blue Jay's POV

Ms. Martian said, "I'm a hero from the United States. You don't need to be afraid." Then she went and used her telepathy to reach into my mind.

I had a bad experience with telepaths. I don't like people getting in my head. I really don't like people that think they're going to help me reaching inside my head. It's happened before and they caused me nothing but pain and trauma.

I growled quietly, rather automatically in fluent Russian, "Убирайся из моей головы!" **Get out of my head!**

"What did she say?" asked Zatanna.

Ms. Martian's presence had already with drawn from my mind when she said, "She didn't want me to read her thoughts."

Then the woman I had seen earlier, the one that acted like she owned the train, came in and said, "Ah Zatanna, I thought I felt your pitiful tracking spell." Then she grabbed me like a hostage and said, "I wonder what I can do to this nice girl if you don't give me what I want."

I don't usually mind magic. I haven't had much experience with it, but what I have had hasn't been as bad as most of the other stuff that has happened to me. I still don't particularly like getting taken hostage by mysterious sorceresses.

Nightwing's POV

I really was thinking about punching Harrier. I thought about beating her until she had as many scars as Zara did. I didn't though. It was a close thing, but I didn't.

I growled, "He's not a replacement." He was just my second little brother. He was nothing like his predecessor. He was completely different than me as well.

"You could have fooled me Bat," Harrier scoffed, "It doesn't even take that long to find a replacement it seems."

Tim said just loud enough for me to hear, before I could do something stupid, "I know I'm not a replacement Nightwing."

I took a deep breath before demanding from Harrier, "What are you so afraid of in Hong Kong?"

Harrier's POV

I was unable to get him angry. It got close, but then he calmed down again. I had a feeling the new Robin was somehow involved with that, but I didn't remark upon it. He wanted to know why I feared Hong Kong. It wasn't the city I was afraid of. It was the things that humanoid could make me do if I ever dared to go there again.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

Circe would ruin all of my plans if her fight with the Justice League's 'covert' Team went on much longer. She would force the girl to remember more of her training, even if it was only accidentally. I would have to have my assassins move in before that.

Tim's POV

I knew I wasn't Jason's replacement. I wasn't good enough to be his replacement. I wasn't even sure why Bruce had let me become Robin at all. It didn't make any sense to me.

_'s POV

That sorceress would destroy everything I had been working so long to achieve. If Z remembered before she reached me she would be out of my grip forever. I couldn't let the assassins free her either. I had to intervene before anyone else. I could have my power reach that far, though it would use up quite a bit of energy. I would regain it once she came back.

**Alright so maybe I'm over selling Tim's under confidence but whatever. If he is a little OOC I'm sorry.**

**Beyond that, I haven't disclaimed since the summary of the story, so I don't own any of the DC characters. Blue Jay, Harrier, and the mysterious _ are all completely original from me.**

**Circe might not be a villain for the Team, but she has fought the Justice League before, so I don't think I'm reaching to much when I pull her into all this.**

**Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. You guys are awesome. Have some theoretical cake and ice cream.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	7. Extreme Pain

The shadows watch her

Forcing her deeper every day

But she will always strive

To escape into the light

-KT

Blue Jay's POV

Suddenly, the sorceress was thrown one way and I was thrown the other. It made no sense. No one was near us. Ms. Martian hadn't had enough time to use her telekinesis. Zatanna hadn't said anything. So who had attempted to save me?

The sorceress obviously thought it was me, as she pointed at me and shouted a spell. I dodged the bolt of light that shot towards me. Somethings just refuse to be dodged though. I ran towards Circe, wishing my plan wasn't nearly as crazy as it was and hoping that it would indeed somehow work. I used her shoulders as a vault and flipped twice through the air before landing on my feet and turning to see a pig behind me, still in the sorceress's clothes.

Zatanna looked at me and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm," this is when I got hit with the worst head ache of my life. It was worse than the one I had after Penguin hit me in the head with some ray that came out of his umbrella. It was worse than the one I got after the effects of the fear gas Scarecrow forced me to inhale wore off. It was even worse than the one I got when Joker made me laugh for two days. I disappeared into the shadows before I curled into a ball and fought against the pain that seemed to consume my every thought.

Harrier's POV

Z was in pain. I had been forced to learn such things, though I had slowly learned to block out all but the worst pain. It was more pain than I had ever let any villain inflict on her. It was payment for her life being saved by that evil being. There was nothing I could do about it now. She was on her own unless the idiotic Bats smartened up, set me free, and let me show them where she was. Not that I wouldn't disappear immediately after that.

I hated Z. I would always hate her. That didn't mean I extracted payment from her that way. I merely used her to earn a profit for myself until I would be able to sell her to the people that had wanted her all along.

Nightwing was still waiting for an answer to his question.

"Have you seen the worst scars Z ever got?" I asked him blatantly.

Nightwing said, obviously only barely managing to reply calmly, "Depends on which ones you consider the worse."

"The two on her back that run along her spine?" I suggested, "I didn't give those to her. She received them from the person that held us both before."

Nightwing's POV

How do you know when to trust an assassin? She could be lying through her teeth and there was no way I could tell. She was trained to be able to lie better than almost anyone else.

Harrier added, "I gave her scars that would let her move around again afterwords. I didn't want to tend to her every need or let the man pretending to be her father know what I was doing and demand a cut from my operation. I would have had to kill him much earlier then."

A loss of profit. Then she was telling the truth.

"Why does she have them then?" I demanded.

Harrier scoffed, "For a test of her immune system. They wanted to see if she could fight off infection as well as she was supposed to. She was, or she would be dead right now like the others. If you thought the scars I gave her were cruel, you should have seen the ones she received from them. Even I wouldn't send her back there."

I had a feeling she was still telling the truth. I couldn't really know for sure though, since she was an assassin.

The assassin's POV (as in the guy that had been following her on the train)

I found the girl fighting back what had to have been extreme pain. I had been there that night in the warehouse. I had seen how she didn't react, even when her arm was broken. Her pain would have to be many times worse for her to dig her nails so far into her palms she cut into her own flesh.

I lifted the small girl and swiftly took her to the sleeping car I was staying in. She didn't even register my touch. None of the heroes noticed me either.

Tim's POV

I was still observing Nightwing's attempts to question Harrier. She didn't seem to give up much information. I hadn't known Blue Jay had any scars, let alone enough that you had to describe a more exact location for people to know which one you were talking about. I hadn't read her file yet, since it hadn't really come into any of the other cases I had worked with Batman, not that there were many of those.

I tried to think of the sort of place that would test a random child's immune system by cutting lines down their back and seeing what would happen when the wounds got infected. I came up blank. The files I had read from the batcomputer didn't have anything like that in them. Then again, maybe Batman knew something I didn't.

_'s POV

Z was already proving to be a good source of power. She would be even better the closer she got. As it was I could regain all of my power that I had lost when I forced Circe and Z apart and then some. I would be glad to finally have her back.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

I received a report from the assassin following the girl only minutes after the event ended. He told me how she and Circe had flown apart, then after Circe was defeated, the girl had disappeared from the view of the heroes and curled up in pain. She was already as good as captured. As soon as the train stopped in Beijing she would belong to the League of Shadows.

**Bum bum bum.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	8. The shadows had taken her

The light must stay

The dark must stay

but she is in between

so where must she go?

-KT

Zara's POV

I woke up with my head throbbing. From my elbows to my finger tips, my arms were encased in metal. I was chained to a chair that was then rigged to send out an electric charge if my cuffs opened without the correct key. The gag in my mouth wasn't helping anything.

It took a minute for my thoughts to become clear enough for me to register more of my surroundings. I was in a tiny, shabby apartment. The walls had extra padding on them all as sound proofing. Three men were in the room with me. I recognized one as the man who had been following me on the train. Then I smelled the food that was warming up on the small heating plate they had.

I was starving. I felt like it had been days since I had eaten. I needed some sort of food to chase down the last bits of the head ache that had left me virtually unconscious for who knows how long. I tried to express this through the gag.

One of the men heard my attempts to speak. He said to the others, "The kid is awake."

All three men turned their attention to me. The one that had followed me on the train walked over to me.

He said, "I'm going to remove your gag. Don't bite my fingers." I might have, but then I wouldn't get any food. I really really needed that food. "How do you feel," he asked once the gag, which I now realized was a surprisingly clean piece of cloth, was out of my mouth.

I did a quick self assessment. My palms ached, I was starving, my mouth was completely barren of moisture, and I still had a bit of a head ache, but other than that I was fine. I attempted to rasp a reply, but my tongue wasn't cooperating.

A woman walked in. I had seen her on one of the files Nightwing let me read. Talia al Ghul was her name. She was Ra's al Ghul's daughter.

She said, "She needs water." Then she took out her own bottle and tipped it to my lips.

I drank slowly, despite my great urge to do otherwise. I understood what could happen if I reintroduced water to my system to quickly. It wouldn't be pretty. The water was still drained away before I was satisfied. I was able to correctly move my tongue now at least.

Talia was the one to ask now, "Are you alright child?"

"I'm fine," I replied quietly, but amended, "a bit hungry." Starving to death slowly but surely, would have been a much more apt description, but making that sort of declaration wasn't my style.

One of the other men brought over the food they had heated up. It was some kind of soup. The other had already dished himself up some, but I was to out of it still to really care if it was drugged.

I looked at my hands, then at the bowl of soup being offered to me, then back at my metal encased hands, then up at Talia. I was guessing she was the one with the key.

She proved me right by removing it from her pocket and undoing one of my hands.

I took the bowl from the man when he held it out to me and sat it in my lap. I ate as slow as I could make myself, but it was still faster than I normally ate.

Talia said, "You've been unconscious for five days. We didn't want to move you again until you woke up. Right now, we are in Beijing. Soon though, we will take you to Infinity Island."

I forced myself not to react. I didn't want to go to the home of the League of Shadows. Truth be told, I wanted to go home. I wanted to find Nightwing and have him tell me everything was going to be okay, like he did when I had nightmares. At the very least, I wanted to get out of the hand cuffs and disappear before even these true shadows could find me.

Nightwing's POV

Harrier kept implying that she wasn't the one that hurt Zara the worst. She was convinced that Zara was going back to where they both had been before the way they had run from that place. She was also convinced that Zara would slowly regain skills she had lost during their journey in a way that Harrier refused to define.

That was the only reason Harrier and I were in Beijing. Bruce had me bring Tim along, since he could use the experience and both needed an extensive break from each other, as they had worked together for almost every free moment for some time.

We were staying at one of the ten safe houses Bruce had throughout China. Only two of them were in Beijing, though after this trip all the ones we stayed in would have to be relocated. Villains weren't allowed to know where our safe houses were located.

Harrier's POV

The Bats were certainly paranoid. I would give them that. There were at least ten tracers on me at all times, five of which would alert Nightwing the second I took any of them off. I could still have removed them, but they made the Bat feel safer.

I didn't understand why he was bringing the younger one with him. It was obvious to me that the he had little to no experience with finding people hiding in shadows better than the average assassin. Then again, Z's skill may not have reached that level yet. Though, it also may have already surpassed that level. If she was up to her peak, even I would be unable to track her, though every part of me hated to admit that even in my head.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

The girl would be on Infinity Island in a matter of days. She would begin training as soon as she arrived. She would be taught how to survive. I would not allow her life to end so wasted as her uncle's had.

_'s POV

The shadows had taken her while I was restoring my energy. They didn't know that her skills were returning though. I doubted even Z realized she was regaining abilities she never knew she had. They would be as instinctive to her as they had been the day she left. She could free herself within days, if not hours. She would make it back to me.

**I'm sorry for the long wait on updating. I place all blame on my new copy of Batman Arkham City. I couldn't stop playing it until I beat it. It's also the reason that I decided to include Talia in this story.**

**As always, reviews of all kinds are accepted and I respond to some of them.**

**-Zaraizabella**


	9. Creator fed on pain

She meets the light

It is all she hoped

But then the darkness

Rips her away

-KT

Zara's POV

_I kept my face stony. Creator fed on pain, but she could only take what you expressed physically. I was very good at hiding it by now. I didn't want to make her any stronger than she already was. H wasn't as good at hiding it as I was though. I didn't blame her. She couldn't help it. It was all in our genetics._

_I was strapped onto a metal table, with my back towards the ceiling, waiting for the latest injection or wound to be inflicted on me._

_I wanted to get out of that place. I knew there had to be a way. I had already found one, but I didn't want to go that far if I didn't have to, but I would if it would save H and my life. H wasn't sure she could do it, but I was positive she could. H never knew if she could bring herself to do something until it was done. I always knew exactly how large a price I was willing to pay for anything._

_H was behind the two way mirror with Creator. I felt bad for her. She always had to watch Creator experiment on me. Since I had stopped expressing emotion almost entirely, Creator had decided to make her watch. H always cringed away from what she knew hurt me much more than I would ever show. H may be willing to kill things, she may never admit weakness to anyone, but I knew she wasn't as strong as she pretended to be. I could see it in her eyes._

_H used her over confidence and pride to mask her insecurities. She tried to hide her pain behind it all. She tried to use it like the sunglasses that she wore to hide her oddly colored eyes. Creator's ability to absorb pain cut right through it though. H didn't know it though. Her pride hid it from her as much as she tried to use it to hide herself._

_I didn't use any emotion to hide them all. I just kept my face blank and didn't move a muscle, no matter how excruciating the pain, no matter how hard I was hit, I didn't move._

_I felt the cold steel cut into my back, seeming to sear a hot line, though I knew I wasn't being burnt. I would have smelled the searing flesh. I could feel it moving along the length of my spine. It stopped just short of where the collar of a T-shirt wouldn't hide it any more. Then, it lifted out of my flesh. I thought it was over at that point. I was wrong. The second line came as a surprise. I had to force my muscles to remain relaxed. Even the act of tensing would give that parasite something to feed off of._

I woke up, shouting something along the lines of, "لا، من فضلك، الخالق هو الاساءة لي." **No, please, Creator is hurting me. **Looking back, I don't really know why I chose to shout it in Arabic. Maybe it had something to do with the assassins all speaking it. Then again, it might have just been because it was the first words that came to mind. I couldn't really think about it much at the time, as I realized I had managed to escape what I had thought to be an inescapable entrapment in my sleep.

"تهدئة الطفل. هذا الشيء لا يوجد لديه عقد عليك الآن." **Calm down child. That thing has no hold on you now,** Talia commanded, as I stood over the bodies of the other fallen assassins. I didn't think it was possible I could have taken them out in my sleep as well, but nothing else made sense.

I slunk into the shadows, away from the assassins and Talia. I was slightly surprised when she seemed to lose track of my movement and backed towards the door, no doubt trying to ensure I didn't escape that way.

I headed out the open window, wondering what on earth was going on. I had never had a dream like that before. I had never had a nightmare about those scars. I had never known where they had come from. Perhaps I should not have assumed all my wounds came from Harrier. It was possible I had gotten them from somewhere else.

All I knew, was I had to find out what was happening to me before I hurt someone I actually liked, rather than the assassins that had been holding me hostage. I had almost made up my mind to go home, but if I attacked Dick in my sleep it wouldn't be much of a home for either of us. Besides, he would probably never take me back. I had been gone for...I lost track of the days and months. He wouldn't want me back after all of that. He probably never wanted to see my face again.

Tim's POV

We were going through the security tapes of a train station to try to find where Blue Jay passed through the security. Harrier had said that she probably would have found a way to get past all the cameras and security, but we were still searching them. Nightwing was fairly certain she may have purposely left a trail if she had started to want to be found.

I was watching one when a man carrying a girl of the right size went through the tight security. The girl looked like she was in extreme pain. She was all curled up. I couldn't see his lips to figure out what excuse he gave to security, but they let him through when he gave them his pass port and another slip of paper. I paused it on the best image I could get of the girl.

"Could this be her?" I asked Nightwing, who was examining his own tape of footage nearby.

He walked over and looked at the image. He asked, "Can you run it through anything to refine the image?"

I pressed a couple of buttons and the picture became clearer.

"That is her," he sounded hopeful and sad at the same time.

Harrier came over then. She growled, "Then it's already to late. That thing has gotten to her."

"What thing?" Nightwing asked, attempting to get needed answers out of her.

Harrier said, "The thing waiting for her in Hong Kong is feeding off her pain. It will grow strong enough that Z won't even have to get to Hong Kong to be under that evil being's control. Z is already under its power. I don't know who that man is, but he's certainly not going to be the same once her pain ends. It will control her for as long as it can after she wakes up."

"Who's the man carrying her though?" I asked, looking at Nightwing for an answer.

Nightwing reached past me and pressed a few buttons on my keyboard, enlarging the face, sending it through the batcomputer's database through remote access. His file came up.

Harrier said, "So now they want her, after she's gotten away from everything else they want her. Well, they're to late. That thing practically owns her already."

Nightwing demanded, "What do you mean?"

There was a knock at the door before Harrier could answer.

**I'm leaving you hanging...again...oh well. Suspense building is half of my fun.**

**I didn't want to do another flashback, so I decided to make it a dream sequence instead. I'll probably do it like that in the future, unless you really hated it. I figured I could make the chapters a bit longer that way. I might include another Zatanna bit, but I'm not very good at writing her, since I usually just focus on the Batfamily or the Team before she joins. **

**By the way, if the Arabic is wrong I place full blame on Google Translate. It's useful, but it doesn't always translate things the way I want it to. That's why I included the translation. **

**Please review, since it makes me feel so incredibly awesome to see it.**

**I'd like to thank those of you that have reviewed already.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	10. I didn't want to hurt innocent people

The shadows want her

To be one of them

But they never knew

How powerful she grew

-KT

Blue Jay's POV

_I fought back the robots with ease, despite the many wounds on my body. This was a test of my pain tolerance, stamina, and my ability to fight with lots of injuries. I ignored the stinging feeling, even as I took down another robot with a blow that would incapacitate any human. Creator didn't understand why I refused to kill. I didn't fully comprehend it either, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I slipped into the shadows, disappearing from the remaining three robots' sensors as I waited for them to get closer. I took out the middle one, letting him take down the other two as he fell._

_I heard someone approach me from behind, so I instinctively lashed out. My high kick was caught by a frightening looking man with an odd black and brown mask._

_He said, "She is well trained. The Light will definitely be interested in her. When will her training be complete?"_

_"She will go to the League of Shadows for the first five years, that they may insure all emotions are removed from her. Then she will be given to the Light," replied the monotonous voice of Creator._

_I pushed off with my other leg, twisting the still ensnared one towards the man's thumb. He was forced to release. I landed on my feet, dropping into a fighting stance, wondering if this was going to be another test of my strength. Other people had fought me before. Creator brought them in to test my skills often enough._

_Creator said, "Z alpha rho alpha, cease your attack at once. This man is our guest."_

_I rose out of my fighting stance, bowing to the man._

_"It's alright, I want to test her skills further," the man said. He attacked first, but I hadn't been given permission to fight back. I dodged, hoping I wouldn't get punished for it. I doubted H could handle seeing me hurt any worse than I was._

_Creator said, "You may fight back Z."_

_I launched into an attack._

_The man held his own with ease, pinning me swiftly. He said, "She is highly skilled. I'm interested to see how well she does after the League of Shadows trains her."_

_"I will make sure you are informed when she is ready to leave," Creator told him._

I woke up with a start. I looked around me, noticing all the knocked out men and women on the roof top. That scared me. They had done nothing to me, and I had still attacked them all. I had to get out of Beijing. I had to get away from people. Maybe, I would go into the Himalayas, or find a group of reclusive monks that could help me learn how to control my sleep fighting. I didn't want to hurt innocent people. I couldn't live with myself if I killed someone in my sleep.

I moved off the roof top quickly, heading through the town as fast as I could. I got lost though. I had to find my way out of the city before I fell asleep again. I didn't want to hurt anyone else.

Nightwing's POV

Talia al Ghul stood at the door, already glaring daggers at Harrier. She demanded, "What is that thing doing here?"

"I'm helping them find Z before your father captures her or she makes it to Hong Kong," Harrier countered, "So where is she? We saw your assassin take her."

Talia replied, "She escaped. She escaped a trap I thought she would be unable to at her previous skill level, beat up the three assassins guarding her, and managed to escape me H."

"Where did you see her last?" I asked, hoping that Zara had left a trail.

Harrier said, "We have to find her while she's awake. That thing will be controlling her every time she sleeps."

Talia said, "She already defeated the second wave of assassins I sent after her."

Harrier scoffed.

"Where would she head next?" Tim asked, looking at Harrier, "You said she was going back the way she had come."

Harrier said, "She would go to Zizhuyuan Park. That was where we ended up when we got here. She probably thinks she's lost, since she'll have to spend three days there before she can continue towards Hong Kong."

Tim was already pulling up a map to get us there.

Talia said, "Then whoever gets to her first will be the one to keep her."

"Whoever can hold her," Harrier said, "She'll be getting progressively more skilled. I doubt your assassins will be able to take her Talia."

Talia just left as swiftly as she had come.

Tim said, "I've got the map."

I said, "Alright, we'll stay together and look for her, just in case Talia decides to send her assassins after us."

Creator's POV

My creations were on their way to capture her. She would go willingly with them. It was in her training. She would finally be mine again. She would be returning home at last. She would be ready for more testing.

Ra's al Ghul's POV

The Bat had decided he wanted the girl back, but I doubted he would be prepared to do what needed to be done for her to never have to go back to that horrific humanoid. I would make sure it was done though. It was what I owed her family.

**Sorry for the long update wait. I got writers block and it took me a while to figure out this chapter. Thanks to all of you that reviewed. Have some hypothetical pie. Please, continue to tell me what you think. Plot holes will be filled in if they're pointed out. I'll try to update sooner next time.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	11. She had been ordered to kill him

The mightier she grew

The further the light withdrew

But she made it closer

than ever before

-KT

Zara's POV

I kept my head down as I moved through the crowd of people at the park like space I was in. I realized I was still wearing my Kevlar under my clothes, so the assassins hadn't taken it from me. More and more people seemed to be flooding into the park. I didn't like that. I didn't like large crowds of people, but I didn't want to leave yet either. That confused me. I wanted to get away from people, but then I wanted to stay in the park.

I sat down on one of the benches and watched the fish in the pond. Then, someone grabbed my shoulder. I looked up at them and had to fight back a scream. As scary as the Joker looked, as freaky as Clayface was, as mutilated as Two-Face appeared, the man who grabbed my shoulder looked worse. He looked like he had shattered every bone in his body, and no one had known how to put him back together correctly. His face was hidden from everyone else by a deep hood. I could see just by the way he was holding himself that his legs were just as badly disfigured. I could only guess that his arms were as well.

"Come with me," his scratchy voice demanded.

I replied, not having to pretend to be afraid, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"People are after you. Bad people. I can help you hide from them," the man explained.

I said, "I don't want to hurt you."

The man chuckled, though it quickly turned to wheezing, and countered, "You think you can hurt me worse than I've already been hurt."

"I don't know if I can trust you," I replied.

The man pointed out, "Sometimes it is necessary to take a leap of faith."

"I don't want to fall," I contested.

The man claimed, "There is someone nearby that won't let you."

I didn't trust him. I had learned to be suspicious of everyone around me during my travels. People were inherently rude. It was rare to find someone who simply wanted to help. I still stood up and let the man's hand rest on my shoulder as he guided me through the crowds. We reached the edge of the park, and he led me to a run down apartment building. We went up in the elevator, then walked down the hall to the room farthest from the elevator. He tried to unlock the door, but his hand was shaking intensely. I gently took the key from his grip and unlocked the door for him.

"Thank you," he said, his tone softer, but still just as scratchy as before.

I asked when the door shut and he had me sit on a ratty couch while he made tea, "What happened to you?"

"I was punished for something I did for a young friend a long time ago. She had saved my life years before that, and I helped her get away from something that was hurting her," the man explained, "helping you repays all debts I had to her."

"Thank you," I said solemnly.

The man looked at me. He said, "I thought she was worth helping. I still think so now."

"Does it hurt for you to speak?" I wondered aloud, not sure if I could deal with the pain that he had to be going through just by doing a task as simple as making tea.

The man replied, "Minimally. I've gotten used to it by now."

"I'm not sure I could withstand that much pain," I remarked.

The man assured me, "I believe you could child. You do not know your limits until you try."

Nightwing's POV

Harrier said, "She isn't here."

"We haven't even looked through half the park yet. It's filled with people. How can you be so sure she's not here?" I asked, growing annoyed.

Harrier replied, "Because, that thing sent its agents here. They've followed us for the last hour. They can't find her here, so she must not be here."

"How can you tell they're agents of the person in Hong Kong?" I questioned.

Harrier explained, "I recognize them. They haven't changed since I was there seven years ago."

"Why did you stay in this park for three days?" queried Tim. It would have been my question, but he got to it first.

Harrier told us, her voice growing softer, "Z had a contact here that owned her a couple of favors. He was giving us money to help us get out of China."

"Is it possible that he's still here?" I suggested.

"Yes," Harrier answered, "It is possible, but I doubt I'll be able to pick him out of a crowd. He got caught when he got us on a train. He was most likely punished severely for helping us escape."

I implored, "What favor was he repaying?"

"She saved his life, or to be more exact, she refused to kill him," Harrier said angrily, making it clear she didn't want to answer any more questions.

Creator's POV

Than menace was holding her again. I could feel it, but I could not sense their exact location. He had always been able to block me that way. That's why she was ordered to kill him. That was when she proved that she would never take a life. I would get that out of her though. I would torture her respect for human life out of her. She would no longer believe humans should only die of natural causes.

**No comments on the villain that showed up at the beginning of the previous Chapter? Here I thought comments about Deathstroke randomly showing up would be pouring in, but I get nothing. I'm almost disappointed, but then, you've been awesome up to this point, and I may not have aptly described the villain in the first place. Besides, you are still reading my story, which makes me feel awesome. I'm sorry this update took so long. This chapter is kind of short in comparison to some of the others, but here it is. Please Review. It makes me feel good to read what you think about this stuff, even if you're telling me all the places I went wrong with this story.**

**-Zaraizabell**


	12. Tate

Zara's POV

I sipped my tea slowly, trying to piece together my thoughts. I'd have to find somewhere secluded to work out what was happening to me or learn how to control my body even in sleep. I'd been heading south all this time, and I was certain I could find some area that direction that would allow me the seclusion I needed as long as I didn't end up in Hong Kong.

The man asked me, "What do you call yourself child?" His voice seemed to grow clearer as he drank his own tea.

"Zara," I informed him, subtly making sure my Kevlar was hidden. I didn't want anyone knowing who I was.

I had asked Nightwing once why we hid our identities. His response was, "It's to protect everyone around us. It gives us time to relax, at least a little. If everyone knew Bruce Wayne was Batman, then he'd never get a moment's sleep, with all the enemies he has. Our friends would be hurt if people knew who we are, just to get to us." It hadn't made much sense to me, even then, but now I felt like I understood better. Not everyone can protect themselves. This man had been maimed just because he knew a girl and protected her. If he had done it under a different name, the same may not have occurred.

He informed me, "I am Tate."

"You said someone nearby wouldn't let me fall," I began, not entirely sure how to phrase the question I was shooting for.

He said, "Yes, there is someone nearby that will be able to protect you. He has already proven quite capable of that."

"You mean..." I was shocked. He had managed to track me down. He was searching for me, even after the months I had been gone. He wanted me back still, even after everything I had done. I couldn't now though. I didn't want to hurt him while I slept.

Tate must have seen the mixture of emotions that crossed my face. He told me, "Zara, as you get farther from this place, you will no longer be controlled. Across the world from you, it will not be able to cause you to harm others."

"Who are you talking about?" I queried, not understanding his statement.

He replied, his voice growing colder than I had yet heard, "The one that disfigured me and gave you the scars you can not remember receiving. The only thing that even Harrier fears. It is called only Creator, a she-demon that plays with human genetics. She is the one that has caused you to attack others in your sleep."

I was a little freaked out by the guy. He was becoming more erratic. The wild look in his eye reminded me of the look several of the villains in Gotham. Every bone in my body was screaming at me to run away from him. The problem was, I was feeling oddly lethargic. That was when I noticed the small bottle of pills next to the tea pot, open and waiting for someone to slip one of the small pills in someone's tea. I was asleep in the next moment.

Nightwing's POV

"The men following us just started walking the other way," Robin commented, having spotted them a few minutes after Harrier told us they were there.

We both wheeled, to start tracking the trackers. I noticed the assassin quietly slipping into the crowd behind us. I would track her down later. My goal was to find Zara.

Creator's POV

My men found her, sleeping in that thing's house. He would be beaten severely for his crimes. Then again, he told the child my name. He made her fear me. Perhaps he would not be punished as severely as he otherwise may have been. The man attempting to find her though, the one that had shown up at the last minute, attempting to fight off my creations, he would be punished.

**Sorry for the long wait for the update. It took me a while to figure out this chapter and I had school and camps and finals for the summer semester. Here it is though. My friend is unable to supply more poetry, as her schedule is even crazier than mine. Sorry about that. I hope you like it. I don't know how many more chapters I'll have, but hopefully the climax will be suitably climactic. I thank all of you that are still reading. Please, review.**

**-Zaraizabell**


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